In the early development of optical fiber communications systems, designers proposed to power subscriber equipment using light propagated through the fiber. This remote powering scheme was thought to be an added attraction to lightwave communications, and would open new communications service opportunities. As the system designers and device designers explored this new possibility it was discovered that devices necessary to implement the concept were not available. The optical power density in a typical optical fiber transmission system was too low for practical power levels to be realized at the remote end. The compromise was to transmit telemetry signals to activate power stations located at the subscriber location. Telemetry signals could be multiplexed with data and voice information, so intelligent systems with considerable versatility were designed and implemented. In some cases these systems are remotely powered electrically, and others are optically powered at the remote location using photoelectric generators. But the goal of optically controlling mechanical or electrooptic functions at a remote location using power from the optical fiber has received new impetus by recent developments using III-V photogenerators serially connected to achieve practical voltage levels. See, e.g., Dentai et al, "High-Voltage (2.1 V) integrated InGaAs photogenerator", Electronic Letters, Vol. 33, No. 8, pp. 718-719 (1997). With this realization of practical power levels in remotely powered photogenerators, continued improvements in these devices are sought.